Launch an influencer campaign for film camera companion apps
I scroll Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube under a fresh account if I’m marketing a film camera companion app. I try to put myself in this person’s shoes: US English, 22-36, already bounced off a Notes app of roll IDs and a light meter they cannot find in a bag, watches 'I lost the roll notes' and lab-drop videos at a counter. Linger, save, like, and comment as if I were them. Once the algorithm is trained I take whoever keeps showing up. Ideally over 50k average views. Below that they quote $700 a post for 1k views. That’s a money sink.
You really need to do this for hundreds of creators a day, because the market is not efficient. Some dumb startup is paying thousands for hundreds of views. I scroll as the person who would download this on real phones. Scout is $1,500/month. We find creators. Outreach is $2,500 if I should send the emails. Dealmaker is $5,000 if I should negotiate and paper the deal. Creator fees extra. No demo. No download guarantee. I wrote the long version at How I find influencers.
Where people actually look
How I actually launch
01
Not a demographic. I am at the lab and I cannot tell them the ISO because it is in a note from three Saturdays ago. They already tried a Notes graveyard of roll IDs, a meter they cannot find in a bag, and the camera's tiny window they misread. Skip the 600k film-influencer whose grid is a Leica brand trip. Adjacent is lab counters, lost notes, not Leica flex. Steal the brief if you want.
02
Fresh account. Real phones. Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. Linger, save, like, comment as if I were them. Once the algorithm is trained I take whoever keeps showing up. Ideally over 50k average. Example: someone at a lab unable to say what ISO the roll was. Signal: the same lab-counter face two drop-offs.
03
I prefer email. The contact is usually in a small lab-drop bio. Just send a short note. Name a real video. Ask for the phone number. Don’t start the deal over email. Film influencers quote camera-haul rates. If they won’t give a number, move on.
04
Pay $X for N posts with a floor of Y views. An example that is easy to hold: $2000 / 4 posts / 1M views. Then send the contract while it’s still fresh. Log a roll when they load the camera. Log ISO at load, read it at the lab, drop the code.
Why most first film camera companion apps campaigns stall
01
Film influencers quote camera-haul rates. You needed a lot of other names so you could move on. Lost-roll-note rants already have the audience; a log they can write when they load the camera is the product.
02
People tag #filmisnotdead when they want brands to find them. A database tells you who exists. Your customer lives in a feed you never opened. A Leica still with no roll log.
03
Many times I have read something unprofitable like “$700 a post” from a creator that gets 50k views. On a call I can explain a Minimum View Guarantee. Over email you just get the first number. Do not ask for a Leica unboxing. Ask them to log a roll at load and read it at the lab.
What you actually buy
Every plan includes the scrolling. Pay more and I do more of the emailing and the paperwork. Creator pay is extra. No demo. No download guarantee. A live listing whose first screenshot is roll, ISO, and a date, not a social feed.
Scout
$1,500/month
We find creators.
Most people start here
Outreach
$2,500/month
We find relevant creators, and do outreach.
Dealmaker
$5,000/month
Outreach, then negotiation and contracts.
Billed monthly, cancel anytime. Creator compensation is not included. You approve every creator and every rate. Measurement is App Store installs with a unique custom code.
Questions
You can learn vocabulary that way. People tag what they want brands to find. I still scroll as the person who would download this on a fresh account and take whoever keeps showing up. The method essay is How we find creators by scrolling a real TikTok avatar.
No. Anyone who does is lying or running paid. I do the scrolling and, on Outreach and Dealmaker, the contacting. You still approve every creator and every rate. Talent is extra. No demo. No download guarantee.
Film influencers quote camera-haul rates. I want roughly 50k average views or the economics usually break. Below that, $700 a post for 1k views is a money sink. On a call I can explain a Minimum View Guarantee. Example: $2000 / 4 posts / 1M views. Over email you just get the first number. If they will not give a number, move on. If you do this right, ie at scale, you will have many other creators to choose from.
No. It is a different job. The tag is Leica-trip talent and lab affiliates. I read the session the person who would download this actually gets served. Product page for the general job: campaigns.